Despite having her as my family doctor for 10+ years, I am always treated like a second-class citizen when I go in there.
For starters, her office doesn't have a switchboard. So booking an appointment is in itself a nightmare as you can sometimes call 20+ times in one day and always get a busy signal. Secondly, when you do finally get through, you'll discover that the closest appointment you can get is always at least two to four weeks away.
For this reason, I have most frequently had to visit walk-in clinics elsewhere when I've needed medical care in the past. Sometimes I will schedule follow-up appointments with her for these same issues. Once she told me, "Please do not go to a walk-in clinic, because I get billed for that." I thought that this remark was quite unprofessional and I informed her that I wouldn't have to go there if I didn't have to wait a month for an appointment here.
Reception staff are terribly unfriendly. I once stood at the desk waiting over ten minutes for the two receptionists to finish their conversation and acknowledge my presence. Lastly, they do not do appointment reminders in any form - so make sure that you write the time and date down correctly. I showed up 20 minutes late to an appointment once, believing that it started later, only to be told that I wouldn't be able to see the doctor because I got the time confused. I had been waiting for the appointment for weeks. A stupid mistake on my behalf, but this is the 21st century and I do not know what office doesn't send out some form of appointment reminders.
Lastly, I once visited her with a severe problem regarding my throat. I told her that I had done some research online, and I thought it was a certain type of virus causing the infection. She told me to "stop Googling my symptoms", dismissed my analysis of the problem and informed me that it was likely a bacterial infection instead. When nothing got better after a week, I returned to her office, begging her to take another look, and she again dismissed my concerns regarding the virus. It took visiting my DENTIST for God's sake, who CONFIRMED that it was likely what I thought it was in the first place, for her to pay any attention to what I said. He ended up having to call her, ask her to order the test for me, and sure enough, when I got the results back, it was positive for exactly what I had thought. I was also informed that the medication I had been taking for the "bacterial infection" that she thought it was had actually exacerbated my symptoms, causing them to last for an exceptionally longer period than normal.
If you're looking for a family doctor, I'd recommend looking elsewhere. read more
